The Pokemon story we all Deserve, Chapter 2.
Lance stared in wonder at the bug Pokémon, who in turn stared back at him.
“I-I’m sorry about before Caterpie, I didn’t mean to run into you. Are you okay?” he asked after a minute, and wiped his tears away. The bug nodded its head, making a happy sound. “That’s good. Are we going to be friends now?” he asked, feeling a little silly. He didn’t expect it, but the Pokémon scooted closer to him, resting its head on his leg.
“Well it looks like the two of you are going to get along just fine,” The professor interjected, “I’m sorry I didn’t have a Pokémon for you Lance. If I had remembered you were coming today, I would have cut the grass and relocated the Pokémon, for the time being, of course.” His voice was layered with amusement and wisdom, but also pride in the young man he had watched grow up.
“But Professor, if you did that, Caterpie and I never woulda met… I’m glad you forgot, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The boy hugged his new Pokémon, who make another happy trilling sound.
“Ah, yes, I see…” the young man answered, thoughtfully, “Oh yes, I almost forgot: you get these, they’re regular Pokéballs, so you may not have as much success as you did with Caterpie, but they should help you get more Pokémon.” Oak held his hand out, with the collapsed Pokéballs in his palm. They were small, even to Lance’s hand, and he held all five with ease.
The boy stood up and with Caterpie at his side, he stuffed the Pokéballs in his pocket. What other Pokémon could he possibly need? “Let’s go pal, we have a journey ahead of us!” He called to the new friend at his side. “Let’s go show Mom!” He spun on his heel and almost made it to the door, then froze, turned and ran back. “Thank you, Professor Oak, for everything.” He hugged the man’s waist, and fought back tears of joy.
“Oh, that’s quite alright, son.” The man answered as he pat the boy’s black hair. “Oh! There’s one last thing I forgot: you can give your Pokémon a name whenever you catch them, would you like to give her a more personal name?”
“Oh yeah, that would be awesome…wait you said ‘Her’?” the boy looked at his new Pokémon, and the professor laughed, rubbing the back of his neck and nodding.
“That’s right, your new Caterpie is a female, and she’s a strong one too.”
“Is that so? Well, I guess I have a lot more to learn about Pokémon, and can I have some time to think about her name?” the boy looked a bit confused. “I had plenty of male names picked out, but she was just so strong, I didn’t think about her possibly being a female, and I want to give her a good name…”
“Yes, that’s quite alright,” he answered, wondering what was going to become of this boy. He obviously had potential, capturing a double-digit level Caterpie without any other Pokémon, or any experience for that matter.
“Thanks, Professor Oak, Have a great day! I’ll see you later!” The boy darted out the door, holding his Caterpie in his arms. “We have to go show mom, maybe she will have a good name for you.” A happy trill made his spirit soar as he ducked and dodged through the grass happily, uncaring for the first time about the grass, for who could beat him and his Caterpie?
He slid to a stop in front of the door frame. “Are you ready to say hi to my mom?” he asked his Pokémon as he stepped forward, his fingers pausing as they wrapped around the doorknob. Caterpie trilled and nodded, shooting a small string from her mouth, He laughed and patted her head, “Don’t do that inside, or Mom won’t let you stay inside.” He gave the knob a turn and pushed the door open. “Mom, I’m back!” he shouted at the silent house.
“Mom?” he wandered through the kitchen, noticing the bag on the table, and stepped through the doorway to the Living room.
“SURPRISE!” shouted half a dozen people. Lance jumped, and Caterpie shot a giant, seemingly never-ending String Shot. The room was covered in the white string, and six statues stood frozen in strange and horrific poses, some with hands in the air, some with their arms halfway up looking as though they were going for a hug.
“Oh no!” Lance shouted, rushing forward to his mother’s statue; he struggled to grip the web-like substance. “Mom!” He suddenly remembered a different Pokémon, and immediately rushed to his neighbor’s statue, gripping his hands around a ball. Squeezing as tightly as he could, he pried the ball from its casing, the hard, sinuous webbing struggling to hold the ball. It came clear with a sound not unlike a rubber band snapping. “Scyther, I choose you!” he shouted, concerned. The large green mantis Pokémon appeared, and the boy shouted again, “Scyther, use Cut, but only on the string shot!”
It took less than a minute until everyone’s faces and chests were free, and after, Scyther started working on saving everyone completely. A thousand apologies spilled from Lance’s lips and Caterpie sulked in a corner, no matter how many times Lance begged her to come back to him.
“So, you were given a Caterpie by Oak, were you?” asked one of the adults, “That’s an odd choice, for a starter.”
“Yes, back when we were kids it was…” their voices trailed as Lance lost interest.
“Caterpie, are you alright?” he asked his forlorn Pokémon, who just shook her head, “Listen, I know it was an accident, it’s okay… everyone’s okay, and that was an awesome string shot, too.” He tried comforting her.
“Yes, it was, that was very good of you to protect my son like that.” Lance’s mother rested her hand on her son’s shoulder, “you are a very strong Pokémon, Caterpie.”
Caterpie turned and looked up into the kind face of the woman speaking to her, eyes brimming with tears, Caterpie tried to seem happy, but her heart wasn’t in it. She felt horrible for what she’d done, and she didn’t feel strong, she was scared.
“Don’t be scared, Caterpie, no one is going to hurt you,” both Lance and his mother cooed, trying to help the frightened Pokémon feel secure. Caterpie looked about herself trying to gain her composure, “Hey, Caterpie would you like some Pokéfood?” Lance asked as he turned to find something for the scared Pokémon to eat. He finally found some food his mom purchased when she considered getting a Mr. Mime to help with the chores, but Lance wanted to prove he was mature and instead started helping with the dishes, sweeping, and other chores his mother was having a hard time doing. There was a sale earlier that year on some special brand of Pokéfood, and His mother bought it on an impulse, when she thought she would need a Pokémon to help around the house.
Caterpie stared at the food for a moment, and decided to try some. It wasn’t too bad, but it lacked the natural flavor she loved so much, the fresh morning dew on a Fiddlehead would be amazing. She gratefully ate the food, while thinking of her little siblings.
“So mom, I want you to meet Freedom, She’s my new Pokémon.” Lance said suddenly, startling Caterpie with his choice. I have a name! ‘Freedom’ she let the word sink in.
“Freedom, it’s very nice to meet you,” His mother answered, and Freedom let out a happy trilling sound, and spun on her back legs and tail. She loved her new name.